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by Agnes Shakespeare Higginson (1864 - 1955), as Moira O'Neill

Birds
Language: English 
Sure an' maybe ye've heard the storm-thrush
Whistlin' bould in March,
Before there's a primrose peepin' out,
Or a wee red cone on the larch;

Whistlin' the sun to come out o' the cloud,
An' the wind to come over the sea,
But for all he can whistle so clear and so loud,
He's never the bird for me.

Sure an maybe ye've seen the song-thrush
After and April rain
Slip from in under the drippin' leaves,
Wishful to sing again;

An low wi' love when he's near the nest,
An' loud from the top o' the tree,
But for all he can flutter the heard in your breast,
He's never the bird for me.

Sure an' maybe ye've heard the red-breast
Singin' his lone on a thorn,
Mindin' himself of the dear days lost,
Brave wid his heard forlorn.

The time is in dark November,
An' no spring hopes has he:
"Remember", he sings, "remember!"
Ay, thon's the wee bird for me.

Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Text Authorship:

  • by Agnes Shakespeare Higginson (1864 - 1955), as Moira O'Neill, appears in Songs of the Glens of Antrim, first published 1916 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Clara Edwards (1887 - 1974), "Birds", published 1958 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), "Birds", published 1927 [ low voice and piano ], from Ten Songs for Low Voice, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Jami Kimble

This text was added to the website: 2004-07-26
Line count: 24
Word count: 163

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